Fairies, Ewoks. Fraggles. Hobbits. Dreamworks Trolls. Cute, little characters have been going on big, epic adventures for as long as pop fantasy has been around. Writer Skottie Young adds one more cute, little cuddly explorer into the fantasy adventure genre with Twig. Embarking on the five-issue quest with Young is artist Kyle Strahm. The shaggy, blue muppet of a hero begins his journey in an interestingly-rendered fairy world. Though the hero and his world are pretty distinct, Given the over-saturation of the fantasy adventure genre, Young and Strahm have quite a lot of work to do if they are to establish Twig as something truly memorable.

Twig is late to get up. His little glow slug pet forgot to wake him up. (Maybe he should have told the luminous little guy to set the alarm for him.) The tiny blue furry Twig rushes through a morning routine. Being late for a new job is one thing…being late for a new job in the belly of a living, sentient mountain? That’s another thing altogether. Twig’s first day on the job is going to be eventful. He’s given a glowing rock in the belly of that mountain that will launch the little Twig into a world of danger.

Young is working all of the standard elements of fantasy. A humble, little character is in a far larger and more dangerous world than you could ever be. The cuteness hidden in the darkness bleeds out of the final page of the opening issue. It’s an engagingly cuddly-looking story and everything, but there is a real Menace working beneath everything. An issue that starts with waking up in the morning ends and death. Young is clearly dealing with much more automatically sophisticated elements than meets the eye in the first issue.

Strahm has worked with Young to create a vividly detailed, little fairy world. The ecology of the landscape around Twig seems so beautifully complex. It would be a real pity if the central story didn’t explore some of the world in greater detail. That IS, however, the hallmark of truly great fantasy art: the world feels so immersive that it coaxes imaginations to spend some time in the margins of the action. Meanwhile, in the center of it all is a Henson-esque, little Cookie Monster-y, Grover-y creature with a glowing slug for a colleague. These are the heroes. It’s a visually charming invitation to adventure.

The darkness in the issue isn’t horrifying. Twig is unlikely to become gruesome or grotesque. It serves to further define the cuteness of the characters in the foreground. Lowering death into the frame on the final page suggests that there’s going to be more than a little menace for the little blue guy and his glow-able roommate. Young is easing into the darkness, though. There is quite a lot of room for the unexpected on the course of the four remaining issues of the series. 

Grade: B